Dear Family,
I got some packages and received some wonderful
letters this week, thank you all SO MUCH!!!! I really had an amazing birthday thanks to
all of you and the amazing YSA people around me! I will get to the birthday
details later though. So, I got a copy of a book about how my grandpa and his family joined the church, and most
of you have probably already seen it, probably like 5 months ago. But holy
cow, it is amazing! I read it on my way to zone training this week and could
barely pay attention because it was so amazing! I had no idea that all of that happened. The art by Hayley was amazing! And the story was incredible! I got to share it
with a few people and it really touched them! I plan on sharing it with others as
the spirit directs!!! I love family history and conversion stories!!! Thanks
mom! Ok now for updates on my people!
T. did not get baptized :( but
thank you for the prayers, they are VERY much appreciated! She has continued on
her wild roller coaster ride, a lot like colossus at lagoon, or maybe like the
rocket, I don’t know. She knows it is all true; she is just having a hard time
acting in faith. Yesterday she texted us and told us that she needs to take a
break, so she dropped us. We are both doing all right, so don’t worry. I am
just grateful that the Savior can make up for any mistakes we have made, and is
also there to always be reaching out to her as soon as she is ready to take
that leap! I know one day she will be baptized; I hope I can be there! I love her, please keep her in your prayers and she may come back and still make it
to be baptized this semester!
We went on exchanges on Tuesday; I
went with Hermana Hardy my STL from 5th ward. So basically it was barely an
exchange because we were with the other sisters at waffle Tuesday and then we
went tent contacting for 3 hours. While on the exchange I strived to work extra
hard at finding people and talking with everyone. We had the tent out and
instead of standing under the tent with everyone else I decided to go and talk
to people more on the outskirts so they wouldn’t be so overwhelmed, and I found
a good number of people! I will tell you about one of them soon! It was a way fun exchange, I love the sisters in 5th ward!
K. is so amazing! We had a sweet
Atonement lesson, and then she said, "This just makes me want to go invite
everyone!" She is going to be a great missionary someday, probably sooner
than later :). We had a less active we are working with come to our next lesson
with her. His story is pretty much the Alma the younger story; his is just a
bit slower of a conversion. But we shared the Alma the younger story and it was
amazing! Also a super great lesson! With HUGE help of the spirit we were
able to help her act in faith and she is still getting baptized
on the 25th! I am grateful she was able to act in faith! She had her interview
and it went super well, it helped her really solidify everything! I love
K.!!!
M. is also doing pretty good. It
was so great to see her Monday night at FHE! I am so grateful that she is alive
and doing well. She is just continuing her radiation treatment! The members are
doing great in reaching out to her and she is being fellowshipped super well,
which is helping her a lot! We were also able to go to a turtle pond with her
and have a cute little lesson about small and simple things. She is also
excited to go to the temple and has that as her goal! Yay! I love this
girl!!! And am so grateful for her!
S., what a miracle! He watched
conference, and then decided to text us. He had told his friend that he dropped
us. But after watching it he had a lot of questions and felt like he should
meet with us again. Then he was walking through a park and saw the plan of
salvation drawn and he had a lot of questions from that. So when we met with
him, what had the spirit directed us to teach- the plan of salvation! He loved
it and his testimony grew more of God, the scriptures and Gods plan revealed to
us through the scriptures! He is coming back! YAY!
Last week a girl walked into the institute
looking to do a journalism project on Mormons. We were a little skeptical when
she asked us for an interview and we were a little skeptical asking if she
would like to meet with us. But we did, and we got permission from president to
give her a short interview because it is only for a class. So we did our little
interview then taught her the restoration. Turns out she is SUPER interested!
She is going on what is called a "Mormon binge" right now and just
loves everything about Mormons. She even tried to make a mormon.org
profile a few years ago :). She loved the lesson and we asked her what it would
mean if this were all true. She said, you would be right and I would join! YAY!
She liked church and had a bunch of questions; she also was super excited to
read the Book of Mormon. She is super sweet and we feel so blessed to be able
to be teaching a girl so prepared by the Lord!
Yesterday we got to teach the lady from
the tent. She is in the army and has tattoos up her arms. We were a little
nervous at first because she seemed really hesitant. But as our first lesson
went on we discovered that she really liked this! She said "this is
different, but it is also so the same! She feels like everything so far is
exactly what she believes. She told us to look up a guy she really loves and
likes to listen to. We had a member look up the guy and he has we believe
statements almost identical to the articles of faith. We are super excited for
her! Her biggest concern is that she doesn’t want to be a part of one religion,
but she is willing to change if God wants her too! She also loved the Book of Mormon
already and understands the priesthood power! YAY!!!
Oh, also today was transfers, I will
be staying with Sister Clark here in YSA 3rd Ward; they will probably close our
area at the end of the transfer for the summer.
So for my birthday, I got all of your
amazing packages! Thanks for all the supplies I needed! I love them all! Also,
thanks for the sunshine box, I didn’t think it could get any brighter in Arizona
but it did!!! Also I love the poster, sister Clark made me hang it up. I seriously feel so blessed! The YSA
also took care of me a ton! Some of them came to our apartment at like 3 in the morning and decorated our car, what
a surprise that was as we were on our way to our first appointment. :) I loved
it! Then we had a "surprise" dinner and party later that night at
Tucson tamale, my favorite place! It
was a fantastic birthday!
I love you all, thank you for
everything!
Love, Sister Barnes
No comments:
Post a Comment